CDC releases guidelines for healthcare workers treating Ebola patients
USA Today reports that “Hospital workers treating Ebola patients should wear double sets of gloves, disposable hoods with full face shields and special masks, according to strengthened guidelines issued” last night by the CDC. CDC Director Thomas Frieden “said all health workers also should undergo ‘rigorous training’ and practice in putting on and taking off PPE in a systematic way that reduces their risk of infection. There should be no exposed skin, Frieden said.” He “noted that staff treating Ebola patients at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the National Institutes of Health have followed the procedures he outlined” yesterday.
The Washington Post (10/21, Sun, Berman) reports, “The beefed-up guidelines also call for health-care workers...to be supervised by trained monitors when putting on and taking off personal protective equipment.” The Post adds, “The government will issue step-by-step instructions for workers to follow in doing that.” During “a media briefing” yesterday, “Frieden said the updated guidelines give a greater margin of safety to health-care workers.”